The Hebrew verb zarar (H2237) means to scatter, to winnow grain, or to press/squeeze out. The winnowing imagery carries both agricultural and theological weight — separating grain from chaff through wind.
The act of winnowing (zarar) became a potent prophetic image of divine judgment: separating the righteous from the wicked. John the Baptist employs this imagery when describing the Messiah: 'His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor' (Matthew 3:12). Zarar points to the inevitable eschatological sifting — simultaneously terrifying for the chaff and liberating for the grain.